Improved bottling-machine



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICEG JOHN MATTHEWS, JR., OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED BOTTLING-MACHINE.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 4 l,440, dated February 2, 1864.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN MATTHEWS, J r., of the city, county, and State of New York, htve invented a certain Improvement in Machines for Bottling, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact descrip tion thereof, reference being had to the accomptnying drawings, and to the letters of refereice marked thereon.

My invention relates to machines for lling bottles which are closed with an internal valve with liquids under pressure, and securing the contents of such bottles by drawing such internal valve to its seat, thus closing the neck of the bottle.

The annexed drawing explain more clearly the nature ofthe invention.

Figure A represents the lling-head of the bottling-machine, provided with a stop-cock, b, communicating with the vessel containing the liquid Linder pressure. The lower part of the filling-head is pzovided with the usual elastic packing, c, which, when pressed on the mouth of the bottle 7c, prevents the escape of the liquids or gases when the stop-cock bis ogened and the iiuids turned onto the bottle It'. A rod or plunger, d, passes through the center of the filling-head, and leakage is prevented by the stuffing-box e. Attached to the lower part otl the plunger are prongs or tingersfff, which are constructed of slender rods of metal, so set or formed as to expand when the plunger is lowered, and drawn together when the plunger is drawn up into the ling-head.

The mode ot' operating with this machine is as follows: The bottle, having an internal valve or stopper, g, which oats on the liquid with which the bottle is to be filled, is placed under the filling-head, and its mouth/pressed tightly against the elastic packing c, which lines the mouth of the filling-head. The liquid is then admitted to the bottle by open ing the stop-cock b. As soon as the liquid rises high enough in the bottle to ioat the valve nearly to its seat, the' stop-cock is closed,

shutting oft' the liquid. The plunger d is then pressed down and the prongs or lingers enter the bottle. In entering the bottle the prongs expand so as to slide against the sides of the neck of the bottle and pass between the side of the bottle-neck and the valve. On withdrawing the plunger the prongs are cornpressed in such a manner as to grasp the valve and draw it to its seat in the neck ot' the bottle. The plunger is then drawn entirely up, which act withdraws the prongs or lingers fff from the bottle and leaves the valve wedged rmly on its seat. The bottle may then be removed from the lillinghead, the internal pressure sustaining the valve firmly on its seat.

I have represented the fingers or prongs f f f, attached to the plunger, as being three in number and as being but slightly curved when expanded, but l do not wish to confine myself to this precise arrangement, as the prongs or linge-rs may be made in any required form and of any number, which, operating substantially as described, will produce the same result.

l do not claim as my invention a llinghead provided with a stop-cock and packing as described, as that apparatus forms part of the bottling-machine in common use; nor a plunger and stuliing-box in combination with the same, as that has been described in the specification of a previous application for Letters Patentbut What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination ofa plunger, having iingers or prongs which enter the bottle and seize the stopper, with the iilling head of a bottlingmachine, the whole operating substantially in the manner described, and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN MATTHEWS, JR.

Witnesses:

THOMAS HILL, ANDREW N ALLY. 

